Two
by ThatGirlIsabel
Summary: Nate and Elena's second year married. Follow-up to Three.


After hinting at how they've spent previous years I thought it might be fun to continue the trend with Nate and Elena's second wedding anniversary. Characters are property of Naughty Dog and SCEA, the usual disclaimer, etc.

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><p>"Nate, stop."<p>

"What? No way!"

"Nate-"

"We gotta keep moving!"

"Stop the fucking horse, Nate!"

Elena only f-bombed when she was really drunk and/or really upset, and tonight it was pretty much both. Against his better judgment he reined in, slowing from an all-out gallop to a bouncy jog and before they could come to a complete stop she was already letting go of him to slide down off the horse's bare back. To their left the shoreline was broken by clusters of rocks worn smooth by sand and salt, and she sat on the nearest one with her head in her hands, letting the tide wash over her sandaled feet. Back the way they had come there was only death, and it was headed this way. "Elena-"

"I know, I know, I just… just gimme a minute." His own buzz was long gone due to adrenaline, but she'd had more to drink at dinner so her words were still a bit slurred. "Ugh, feels like I'm gonna puke… why'd you have to go and order another bottle? And let me eat all that shrimp?"

"Well, to be fair I hadn't really planned on the volcano interrupting our anniversary. C'mon." He held out a hand, eager to get moving again. Thunder rumbled across the sky like an angry dragon.

Elena did not budge. "Just hold on a second! I'm so dizzy, and we oughta rest the horse anyway." There hadn't been any time to saddle up or search for a second mount so theirs didn't have to carry double, only enough to cut this one loose of the cart he'd been attached to when they found him and they had been pushing him hard ever since. Sweat and lather flew from the bridle as he champed impatiently at the bit and tossed his head, apparently just as anxious to keep going as Nathan was, but even so Elena was right. If they ran the horse to death their chances of escaping the destruction on foot were slim to none.

"Just for a second," he agreed, and behind them the mountaintop was growling again. There was no moon tonight, no stars, no soft purple sunset on the horizon, only black on black where smoke met sky, and a series of bright red rivers below. In the distance the lagoon they had crossed was steaming as the lava flow made contact with the water and several trees along the opposite shore were already ablaze.

Elena was watching it, too. "Oh, Nate," she said sadly. "All those people…"

"I know. Just try not to think about it." He felt like a fool making _that_ suggestion. Watching people get incinerated in the streets was a far cry from the bonfire he had wanted to take her to after dinner; there was no way to not think about the horrors they had just seen. Red-hot death spraying into the sky, people running from the chaos or straight at it in search of loved ones, landslides pouring in from the surrounding hills, dust and ash and falling rock at every turn… "We can't come back to help if we don't outrun it first," Nathan added. The horse was getting more restless by the second and they could not stay here much longer. "Feeling any better?"

She took a shaky breath and finally stood, ankle-deep in the surf. "Yeah. I mean, no, but yeah, let's go." Elena left her rock behind to splash back towards him just as a group of swift dark shadows burst out from somewhere behind them and raced past, gone as quick as they had come. It was only a pack of wild dogs, fleeing from the same threat they were and far too preoccupied with their own survival to bother them, but that fact was lost on the horse and he spooked at the sudden commotion. Nathan fought to stay astride as his mount shied and half-reared beneath him and the dogs disappeared with sand flying in their wake.

Once he had the animal under control again Nathan was startled to see his wife giggling to herself as though they hadn't a single care in the whole wide world. "I wish I had my camera!" she hooted. "You looked like the hero on the cover of a romance novel just now. Think you could get him to rear up like that again, but with your shirt off for the full effect? Here, gimme a hand."

"Probably not without falling on my ass," he admitted. He had thought to pull her up behind him again but she wanted to be up front this time, opining that her queasiness had been brought on by not being able to see where they were going in addition to a belly stuffed with too much wine and shrimp cocktail. It was difficult keeping the horse steady and getting Elena situated all at once until she took over the reins to free his hands. Her hair smelled like smoke, flakes of fallen ash decorating the back of her neck, and he felt guilty for rushing her earlier. They had gone from drunk and relaxed one moment to a mad dash for their lives the next, no wonder she was feeling sick. "You sure you're okay to ride? We can sit a bit longer if you gotta send those shrimp back to the ocean."

She insisted she was, and as they moved off again he took a handful of mane to steady himself without the risk of pulling her down with him if he happened to fall, coarse horsehair tickling the inside of both wrists. Their mount also seemed to appreciate the breather, his gait less bouncy than it had been, but Nathan hesitated before encouraging more speed from the animal. Although Elena maintained that the rest and change of perspective had done her a world of good, she still looked a little sour if you asked him. "You sure? 'Cause if you do throw up I'd rather it not be into the wind."

Her laughter sang on the salty breeze. "If we need to pull over again you'll be the first to know," she assured him, and clucked to the horse to send them racing down the beach towards safety. The wild dogs gave them a wide berth when they passed the pack at an easy gallop, watching with wary yellow eyes and lolling tongues as they loped alongside. Volcanic lightning crackled at their backs but with the dunes to one side and the breakwater on the other it was almost as if they were on a romantic nighttime ride, so long as they didn't look back.


End file.
